Shepherdstown’s Pumpkin Contest was held along The Wall in front of McMurran Hall on Sunday afternoon. Tabitha Johnston

SHEPHERDSTOWN — With new leadership and a new direction for its events, the Boofest celebration officially returned to town for the first time since the COVID-19 Pandemic forced event cancellations in 2020.

While some of the events and leaders remained the same, like the Shepherd family’s Haunted Hallway on the first floor of the War Memorial Building, others were completely new. This was largely due to the fact that Boofest’s return was driven by a recently returned Shepherdstown resident, Mary Buffington, who created two new events to add to or replace events that were unable to be resurrected this year, such as the Thriller Dance Party.

The first event, Shepherdstown’s Pumpkin Contest, was held at The Wall in front of McMurran Hall, from 9 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Participants were encouraged to enter their carved or decorated pumpkins for prizes donated by local businesses, including Four Seasons Books, or they could simply choose to pay to vote on which of the pumpkins on The Wall deserved to win first, second or third place in the contest. Proceeds from this event, which was manned by Shepherdstown Shares and Girl Scout Troop 15006 members, went to Shepherdstown Shares’ efforts to provide Thanksgiving dinners for local families in need.

“I left here in 2012 to be a travel nurse and basically bounced around, so I could see the world. I met my husband in Denver, Colorado. When I got pregnant, I wanted to move here, because I wanted him to have the small-town experience growing up,” Buffington, who is the Boofest Chair, said. “But we came back in the middle of the pandemic — I had a pandemic baby — and I was disappointed to see that there were no Boofest events taking place!”

Along with this event, Girl Scout Troop 15006 manned their own fundraiser, a face-painting booth on McMurran Hall’s lawn. Proceeds from the booth were dedicated to the troop’s activities, as Shepherdstown’s resident Girl Scout troop, with meetings at Morgan’s Grove Park and Trinity Episcopal Church.

Winifred Sanderson and Cinderella’s Fairy Godmother pose together at the Enchanted Tea Party in the War Memorial Building on Sunday afternoon. Tabitha Johnston

Buffington’s second new event, the Enchanted Tea Party, was held on the second floor of the War Memorial Building on Sunday afternoon. As with her other event, the tea party was designated as a fundraiser for a local charity, Stars That Shine, which offers tutoring and feminine hygiene products to teenage girls in need. In lieu of that, tea party attendees were asked to donate a feminine hygiene product to the organization at the event, along with the ticket fee.

“We help girls from sixth grade through high school graduation. We’re the only local organization that works with that age group and provides feminine hygiene products,” said Stars That Shine CEO and founder Alisha Puller, mentioning that teachers, school nurses and school counselors, along with individual girls, regularly contact and receive a three-month supply of donated feminine hygiene products in the mail from her organization. “We provide hygiene products to Berkeley County, Jefferson County and Morgan County, but we only provide tutoring and additional assistance to girls in Berkeley and Jefferson counties.”

While Boofest has changed over the years, developing from Judy Shepherd’s original Haunted Hallway into a multi-event Halloween celebration, Shepherd noted that its new post-pandemic iteration only proves the resilience of the community’s appreciation for a beloved holiday and its associated events.

“This is free, as it always has been, but I am glad to see that some of these paid events have been turned into fundraisers for good causes!” Shepherd said. “After all, that’s the type of community Shepherdstown is — if there’s a need, then we’re going to work together to try to fix it.”

According to Shepherd’s daughter, town council member Jenny Haynes, Boofest’s return has been a welcome sight.

Girl Scout Troop 15006 members Isla Gleason, right, and Megan Perrotte gaze at some of the decorations in the Haunted Hallway in the War Memorial Building on Sunday afternoon. Tabitha Johnston

“It’s been two years, so it’s nice to see Boofest back in action,” Haynes said, mentioning that even a socially distanced version of the Haunted Hallway had to be cancelled in 2020, much to her family’s disappointment. “We forgot how much work it was, but it’s nice to see the kids all excited! We like to have fun and do things for the community.”

Buffington said she hopes to see Boofest grow more in the future, as the community continues to bounce back from the effects of the pandemic.

“The goal with a lot of this was to raise money for these organizations and also to bring back the community. These are awesome organizations that do a lot of good things!” Buffington said. “I think we really need stuff like this. People need help and with these kind of events, we can make doing good fun!”